


Vessel

by imagineteamfreewill



Series: The Switch [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angelic Possession, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, The reader gets called a “pet” because of post-apocalyptic world characteristics/creature hierarchy, someone slaps the readers butt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 14:17:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18639790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagineteamfreewill/pseuds/imagineteamfreewill
Summary: Cas and Y/N travel back to the bunker, and she learns some surprising things about him.





	Vessel

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on my tumblr of the same name on November 3rd, 2018.

It only took a few days for you and Castiel to become accustomed to each other. On the drive to get clothes and food the two of you talked very little, except for when you asked him questions about himself, which he usually avoided answering. Cas had, however, tell you that his home was in Kansas, and you’d held onto that tidbit. Though he was secretive about where  _exactly_  his home was, you’d filed away the every bit of information that you could get out of him. You didn’t know when or if you’d get the chance to escape, but you wanted to be ready if you ever got the chance.

“How are you feeling?”

You looked up from your bowl and swallowed the bite you’d just taken before answering, “Fine.”

Cas nodded once and glanced over at the demon tending the dimly lit bar. Their gazes met and her eyes flicked black for a second before returning to normal. She went back to her work after another long second.

“We should be leaving soon,” Cas told you, his voice low.

You nodded. “Of course, Master,” you replied. The title tasted bitter but you said it anyway, knowing that you needed to put on a show in order to keep the both of you safe. The chains around your wrists were there for the same purpose.

Cas grimaced slightly at your title for him. You’d only used it twice now—both on occasions where you needed to act subservient—and both times he’d acted negatively towards the name.

_If God is still out there after all the Switch mess, at least I can thank Him for Castiel,_  you thought as you sipped on another lukewarm spoonful of your soup.

“I’m finished.” Castiel slipped out of the booth and stood, then headed towards the door, leaving you to scramble to keep up with him. Before you had a chance to follow him out the door, however, the lock clicked into place, separating you from your angelic rescuer. You froze, your senses on high alert as you heard footsteps approaching you from behind.

“Well, well, if it isn’t a little pet hunter. I’ve been looking for something to keep my occupied today.”

Gritting your teeth, you held back an angry flinch when the demon trailed a finger across the back of your neck. “You shouldn’t touch me,” you told her. “He’ll figure it out when he realizes I’m not with him, which won’t be long.”

“But until then…”

“But until then nothing,” Cas growled. You looked up from the floor, your eyes meeting Castiel’s from the other side of the glass door. The demon behind you hissed in surprise when the glass shattered without warning, speckling you with tiny particles that stung when they hit your skin. You squeezed your eyes shut as Cas stepped into the building, the demon retreating as he advanced towards her. Seconds later your heard an anguished scream from somewhere behind you and you held back a choked cry. The thought of someone dying at the hands of someone who’d been so kind to you made you want to run and hide, but you knew that deep down, there was nowhere that you could hide where Cas wouldn’t find you.

“Y/N,” Cas murmured, his hand coming to rest on your shoulder. You flinched and you heard him let out a heavy sigh as his hand fell away from you. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s okay. You’re safe with me.”

You shook your head, pulling your restrained wrists against your stomach as you tried to compose yourself. “I—”

“You have nothing to be afraid of, Y/N. I would never use my powers against you. I’ve proved that to you, haven’t I?”

Slowly, you nodded and exhaled the breath you’d been holding just as your lungs started to ache. You kept your eyes closed as Cas moved past you, the glass on the bar floor crunching underneath his tan work boots. When he was gone, you opened your eyes and watched him walk to the car, climbing in the driver’s seat and pulling out a cell phone. He dialed and lifted it to his ear, beginning to talk when the person on the other end answered. You watched him for a moment longer before looking down at your cuffed hands. Castiel had the key, but you weren’t sure you wanted to be that close to him right now, not after remembering exactly what he was capable of.

After standing in the entrance of the bar for a few long minutes, you finally headed back to Castiel’s car. You slid into the passenger seat and sat quietly as he finished his call, all the while listening closely to try and hear what the person on the other end was saying. The more details you could get about Castiel’s life, the better.

“Sam is fine, Dean,” Cas sighed, sounding more tired of the conversation than anything. “We’ll be back to the bunker shortly. There were some… complications with the mission.” He glanced over at you and you instinctively looked down at your cuffed hands.

You heard the person on the other end—a man, judging by the name Cas had let slip—yelling, and after a second Cas shifted in his seat. Glancing over at him, you frowned when you saw the agitated look on Castiel’s face.

“I won’t apologize for what I did,” Cas replied sharply. “Your brother needed a break. I’ll be there soon, but my grace is…” He stopped speaking, looking over at you again. You swallowed nervously when you met his hazel eyes. There was something Castiel didn’t want you to know, and you had the feeling that he would do just about anything to keep you from finding out the answer to all the questions that were now floating around in your head.

“Goodbye, Dean.”

Cas ended the call and tossed his phone on the seat. You stared at it for a second, licking your lips before asking, “Can I have the key? To the cuffs?”

“Why?” he replied, his eyes still focused on your bent head.

“I—” you stopped, unsure of how to phrase your fear. Cas had been very clear with you that he didn’t want you to be afraid of him, but for some reason you still were. The tough hunter in you had never fought an angel, and now with that very prospect on the horizon, all your bravery had gone into hiding, leaving you more than fearful of what would happen to you if Cas were to take out his angelic anger on your very human body.

“You’re still afraid of me,” Cas deduced. You nodded once, eyes fixated on the phone lying on the seat. A beat passed before Cas moved, digging into the pocket of his canvas jacket and pulling out the key. He set it on the seat beside the phone in silence, then turned the key in the ignition and began to drive again. It took you a moment to get up the nerves to reach out and grab the key, but when you finally uncuffed yourself you let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” you said, shifting on the seat so you were facing forward again.

“You’re welcome, Y/N,” Cas replied, his voice gentle.

You closed your eyes after a second, pushing away thoughts your fears, and leaned your head against the window, fully intent on falling asleep for the rest of the evening.

* * *

During the rest of your stops, Castiel carefully avoided touching you. He could probably tell you were nervous, and you knew that he could sense your gratefulness each time he handed over the cuffs and, after you were finished with whatever you’d stopped for, the key. He’d left the cuffing and uncuffing to you, and in return you tried not to ask him any questions about Sam or Dean, whoever they were. He didn’t want to talk about them, you’d learned, so you dropped the subject and hoped that he’d bring it up on his own.

It wasn’t until the third day of driving that Cas brought up the two men he’d so carefully avoided speaking about.

“You’re wondering about Dean,” he said as you swirled your french fry around in the pool of ketchup on your plate.

You looked up at him, curious. “I suppose.”

A smile quirked up the corner of Cas’ thin pink lips and he folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Dean is… a friend. Brothers would be a better word for our relationship, but he’s not an angel like me.”

Frowning, you swallowed the last of the fry and licked the salt from your lips, peering at him. “I didn’t think angels spent time with anyone besides their own kind, at least not anymore. I heard from another hunter that there was some kind of message sent out to all the angels that anyone caught consorting with humans would be killed.”

Cas pressed his lips together and looked down at his hands for a second, lacing and unlacing his fingers as he formed a reply. “Dean and I were close long before the Switch. I rescued him from Hell and returned him to his brother, and as time went on I learned that humans weren’t all I was told. So, I rebelled.”

You watched Cas with wide eyes, your mind spinning with the new information. You’d heard about an angel who’d rebelled, but you hadn’t realized that the angel you’d heard about was Castiel.

“You rebelled?”

He nodded. “Yes. The Winchesters and I have fought together many times since then. They’re good men and they’ve helped many people, even before I joined them.”

The name Winchester sounded familiar, like a something from a story you’d heard as a kid, but you pushed the thought away and focused on the angel sitting in front of you.

“How are you not dead?” you asked, pushing your remaining fries away in favor of your conversation. “I mean, don’t the other angels want you dead? Don’t they know that you’re still talking with the Winchesters?”

Cas looked around for a second before focusing his eyes on you again. “Don’t speak so loudly,” he ordered. “I’m not sure I can fight off the monsters in this diner so soon after what I did at the bar.”

You frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to have like… unlimited mojo or something?”

“Theoretically, yes,” Cas replied, his voice still hushed. He looked around the diner again before standing. “Come. It’s time for us to go. I’ll explain more in the car.”

Nodding, you pushed your own chair away from the table and watched in silence as Cas threw down the payment for your meal, leading you out of the diner after the demon waitress gave him a crude smile. She slapped your butt as you passed by her, and you grit your teeth together as ashamed tears filled your eyes.

“Are you okay?” Cas murmured once the two of you were alone in the car. You nodded in silence as Cas gently uncuffed your wrists, rubbing them for a moment before pulling his calloused hands away.

“I wish I could fight back,” you sniffed, exhaling shakily as you tried to quell your emotions. “But I know that I won’t get very far if I do. I’m still pretty weak and it’s been a while since I’ve trained…”

“All that will change soon,” Cas promised. “Once we get to my home, you will have opportunities to heal and train as much as you want. Sam and Dean will help you, I’m sure. You will never be defenseless again, Y/N. Not if I can help it.”

You nodded, sitting quietly as Cas started the car and pulled back onto the road. After a few minutes, you asked, “Sam’s your vessel, isn’t he?”

Cas was silent and finally, you got tired of waiting for an answer. Not wanting to push, you turned your attention to the forests passing by on either side of the car. The day before you’d seen a deer standing on the side of the road, and it had been so long since you’d seen an animal alive that you’d almost wept tears of joy. Cas had been surprised, of course, but he’d promised to stop the next time you saw one, simply so that you’d have the opportunity to look at it for longer than a split-second.

“Sam Winchester works himself harder than most,” Cas spoke up, surprising you. You looked over at him to find that his eyes were still focused on the road in front of him, which was a good thing, considering that Cas’ driving skills weren’t as good as most people’s.

“Yeah?” you prompted.

He sighed. “I try to help them as much as I can with research and food runs, but sometimes they find a lead and spend days working on it. They’ve helped a lot of people since the Switch, both hunters and normal people, but Sam especially pays the cost. He doesn’t sleep or eat, sometimes for days on end. He already deals with… other issues, and not sleeping and eating takes a larger toll on him than it would others.”

You watched Cas, letting him speak on his own terms as he opened up to you. This was the most he’d talked to you since rescuing you, and you didn’t want to risk pressing him and making him close up again.

“I used my grace to knock Dean out, and I was going to do the same for Sam, until…”

He trailed off, and after a minute of silence you asked, “But what?”

Cas blinked and sighed. “I saw your name on his computer screen. He was researching the auctions in states that we don’t normally enter, and when I saw your name I knew that I had to rescue you. My vessel is recognizable, but Sam hasn’t left the bunker in over a year. He wouldn’t be recognized.”

“So you possessed him?” You frowned, confused. “How am I so important that you had to possess Sam to come rescue me? I’m just a normal person, Cas. I mean, I became a hunter after the Switch, but…”

“I didn’t do this without his permission, Y/N,” Cas told you, glancing over at you for the first time since he began. “I want you to understand that. Sam wasn’t aware of my plans, and I regret lying to him, but his soul is resting as we speak. He won’t remember any of this, but it’s for the best. He’ll be in better health after I leave him and return to my normal vessel.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

Cas shook his head. “Another time, Y/N. You should sleep. You’ve been awake for almost twenty-four hours now. Your body needs rest.”

* * *

Cas’ voice roused you from your nap the next evening, and in return you let out a quiet whine, not wanting to wake up. After a moment, however, you surrendered and opened your eyes to squint at him. Past him, through the window, you could see a dark forest, and you looked around once your brain caught up with the rest of you. A dark electrical plant loomed above you and you frowned, confused.

“Where are we?” you grumbled, sitting up and rubbing the grit from your eyes. It was nighttime, and in the absence of street lights, you could see the stars shining in the pitch black sky, even through the dusty car window.

“Kansas,” he replied simply.

Cas got out of the car without another word, unfolding his long legs and stretching his arms above his head once he was standing on the gravel. You watched him for a second, wondering how someone could look so human, and the thought came to mind that up until recently, his vessel had been human. Sam has a family, and maybe even a job before he started associating with your angel.  _Who knows,_ you thought to yourself as you yawned. _Maybe he even has a girlfriend or something._

Climbing out of the passenger seat, you stretched your arms and legs as well, stopping only when you realized that Castiel was staring at you from the other side of the car.

“What?” you asked, suddenly self-conscious.

He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s not important.”

You frowned at him, tugging down your shirt where it had ridden up and pushing your hair out of your eyes. “You looked like you wanted to ask me something.”

Cas shook his head again and you crossed your arms over your chest, narrowing your eyes at him until he finally replied, “I was wondering what you did before the Switch. You said that you didn’t become a hunter until afterwards.”

“That’s very human of you to wonder about that,” you smiled.

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“I was a telemarketer,” you told him. “I wasn’t anything important.”

It was quiet for a moment and you watched as Cas mulled over your words. Finally, he lifted his eyes and met yours, and a spark ran through your body, as if his gaze was electric.

“Everything you do is important, Y/N,” he said, his voice quiet. “You are very important to this world, and you have a great purpose to fulfill.”

Swallowing thickly, you tore your gaze from his and asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?” When he didn’t reply, you glanced over at him again, only to find that he had walked away from the car, towards an entrance that was nestled at the foot of the nearby concrete stairs.

“Cas?” you asked, following him to the door. He knocked once, and a moment later the door was torn open from the inside. A man with angry green eyes stood on the other side.

“If you weren’t in Sammy’s body…” he growled

Cas held up a hand, silencing him. “We have bigger problems than my occupying your brother’s body, Dean,” he said. “Let us in and I’ll explain, after I return to my own vessel.”

Dean frowned, his eyes shifting over to you after a second. “Who’s she? Did you test her?”

You swallowed thickly and held his gaze, lifting your chin in defiance. If this man was the Dean that had been on the phone with Cas earlier that day, you didn’t want to show him any weakness, not until you had figured him out.

“This is Y/N, Sam’s soulmate.”


End file.
